How does IRV impact major and minor parties?
IRV helps both third parties and the two major parties. It helps third parties by removing the “wasted vote syndrome”: that is, their supporters being afraid to vote for them for fear that if they do, they are throwing their vote away and/or helping elect the candidate they like the least. This allows third-party candidates to campaign on their issues rather than answering to the “horse race” odds, and to receive an accurate tally of their support. IRV helps the two major parties by enabling them to get votes back from third party voters in the form of second choices that would count for major party candidates in the event that a major party candidate was not elected in the first round of counting. This means the major parties won’t have their elections “spoiled” by dividing the vote with a third party.
